


Liar's Grief

by Elwyne



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 18:18:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4029874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elwyne/pseuds/Elwyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foggy and Matt confront the cost of Matt's betrayal. Post-'Nelson V. Murdock.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liar's Grief

"Foggy! Foggy!"

Matt's voice followed him out the door onto the landing. Foggy ignored it. He hurried down the stairs, then paused at the bottom to wipe the tears from his cheeks. Wouldn't do to be seen crying in public like a fat little boy.

But man, did he feel stupid.

 

"Foggy!"

Matt sat perched on the edge of the sofa, listening to his friend's receding steps. He'd never known Foggy to be angry, certainly never like this, and it left him reeling. How could he make him understand? He'd never meant to lie to him; there were certain things he just didn't share. 

Claire, he'd told. He had to; she saved his life. And now Foggy had saved his life too. What if he hadn't been there when Matt, as the Mask, stumbled into the apartment? What if he hadn't come by, hadn't broken in? Would he have bled to death there on the floor? Of course he was grateful to Foggy. But how could he ever get through to him?

 

"Fuck." Foggy took out his phone, pulled up Karen's number, put it away again. He'd lied to her, lied for that liar Matt; how could he face her now? They'd had something, he was sure of it, given a little more time. And even if they didn't, she was a great worker, just what Nelson and Murdock needed, and a great drinking buddy as well. He'd needed her these last few weeks, as the world seemed to go to hell around them. And now he'd betrayed her.

"Fuck!" He kicked a fire hydrant, hard, then hopped back on one foot clutching his injured toe. "Fuck fuck fuck! Sorry!" A bent old woman with a cane scowled from a nearby stoop. Foggy smiled and waved. How fucking phony am I now, he thought. Just pretend everything's all right.

As if anything would ever be all right again.

 

The first days after the accident were a sea of pain, darkness, unfamiliar sensations. By the time the rest of him had healed, by the time they'd put him in trauma support, by then he'd started to realize that what he could do wasn't normal. Blind people learned to rely more heavily on their other senses, that much was true; but still, few could smell the difference between one stranger and another. Few could feel the temperature change when a person walked into the room. And none, as far as he knew, could hear other people's heartbeats.

It was the heartbeat, he thought, that endeared Foggy to him in the first place. Never had he met anyone so open, so sincere in his every dealing, so cheerfully upright. Foggy had never lied to him, never lied to anyone as far as he knew. Yet since the day they'd met, Matt had been the liar.

He hadn't told his dad. Battlin' Jack had enough to worry about, with a disabled child and questionable career. He'd have wanted to see more doctors they couldn't afford, more specialists, only the best for his boy Matty. Matt hadn't wanted that for him. 

Stick had known; how, Matt still couldn't imagine. Stick had something of the same affliction. But Stick made it clear that the gift was their secret. No one could know, the old man insisted, though he never said why. He wouldn't have disapproved of lying to Foggy or anyone else; instead, he disapproved of Matt's having a friend at all.

Wouldn't Stick be pleased with him now.

 

Foggy stood in the street across from the office, waiting for the light to go out. Their office, Nelson and Murdock, a dream he'd shared with a best friend it turned out never existed. Nelson and Murdock was a sham, a joke, and he was the butt. All those grand ideas they'd had, all the promises they'd made, so much smoke up his ass. He scowled up at the soot-smeared window, the only one in the whole building still lit. Why wouldn't Karen go home?

Did she believe him? That lie he told about Matt's accident? Could she hear the bullshit in his tone? What must she think of him? What would she think when she learned the truth? They couldn't keep it from her forever; it would tear them apart. Sooner or later, she'd have to know.

Then, suddenly, he realized it wasn't his problem any more. He was finished with Nelson and Murdock. He'd go get plastered on his own somewhere, then crawl back to L and Z in the morning and beg for a job. Or maybe he'd go home and get work at a butcher's like his mother always wanted. Maybe he'd call Marci. She was a bitch, but she wouldn't care that he was a liar. 

Overhead, the light went out. Foggy eased back into the shadows. He counted the steps Karen would take down to the street. Right on time the front door opened. She looked out cautiously, left and right, before hurrying away with her head down. Her hair glinted gold in the streetlight as she glanced back furtively over her shoulder. Finally she rounded the corner and disappeared. 

With a deep breath Foggy jogged across the street and let himself into the empty building.

 

Matt stood at the window, his forehead pressed to the cool glass. He could feel traffic moving in the street below, hear the city breathing; every heartbeat, every sob, every cry of pain and fear. He thought of Claire, who had saved his life once again. He wanted to be with her, to talk to her, to feel her kindness in her hands and her voice. But what would she say to him? She already disapproved of the man in the mask; now that she'd met Foggy, now that she knew how good he was, how loyal, she would disapprove even more. 

Stick was right. He couldn't have people close to him; they'd only get hurt. Foggy would never forgive him now. Claire couldn't love him as he was. Karen... Karen's faith rested in him, and he knew he didn't deserve it. He knew he'd only fail her too. Better now than... than... But now was when she needed him. Karen, more than anyone, needed the lawyer and the man in the mask. One or the other was not enough. Karen needed both. He couldn't let her down.

Matt returned to the sofa and sat with his head in his hands. The cuts on his face stung at a touch. The new stitches burned. Carefully he lay back among the blankets. They felt like a nest of crumpled paper, full of rustling noise and hard edges. He closed his eyes and tried not to hear the howling of the world outside.

 

Foggy woke up in Marci's bed, his head still spinning with expensive cocktails she had paid for. Outside the sky remained midnight-dark. Beside him Marci snored. 

Nelson and Murdock was over, he knew, but the world kept turning. Fisk, or whoever, was still out there, ruining lives like Elena's and Karen's. He couldn't give up, not yet. He'd already failed Elena. He wouldn't let it happen again. Even if Karen learned the truth, even if she hated him for it, he wouldn't let her down. He'd get out there. He'd do the right thing.

And so, he knew, would Matt. Nelson and Murdock or no, they would get to the bottom of things. They would get justice for Elena. They would help Karen feel safe again.

But not just yet. For a few more hours, he would be angry. For a few more hours he would forget.

Foggy closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This piece inspired and motivated by this gifset: http://elisa74.tumblr.com/post/120125488355/matt-and-foggy-oh-he-knows


End file.
